Upon the passage of the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21), the use of digital images for check presentment has increased dramatically, as the process typically reduces the time taken for a check to clear and the cost associated with moving paper checks from location to location. In lieu of using a physical check to clear the check clearinghouse, a scanned image is used in the process. A person, such as a bank teller, scans the physical check upon presentment by a customer at a bank. The scan creates a digital image of the check. The digital image, along with other electronic information such as amount and account holder, is submitted electronically to the federal check clearinghouse system. The system processes the digital image of the check rather than processing the physical check itself.
Banks and other institutions that process checks have realized significant benefits by using electronic presentment of checks. For example, both a reduction of the need to transport paper from the bank of presentment to the federal clearinghouse, as well as a reduction in the processing time that is necessary to clear checks has been achieved. At issue when presenting checks electronically is that the physical check may exist at the same time as the digitized form, i.e. the digital image, of the check. If the check is not destroyed, or otherwise altered, the physical check may be fraudulently presented again at either the same location or another location. Even though the check image may have been submitted for processing with the federal check clearinghouse system, the physical check may be stolen and fraudulently altered and re-presented at another location for payment. Thus, there could be multiple check items going through the clearinghouse that originate from the same physical check.